Waterfall

Waterfall, originally uploaded by invisiblekid2007.

Random ten

1. I Believe (When I Fall In Love It Will Be Forever)- Stevie Wonder
2. Get Ready- Rare Earth
3. Head Over Heels- Tears For Fears
4. Borderline- Duffy
5. You Do Something To Me- Paul Weller
6. The Modern Age- The Strokes
7. Sweet Virginia- The Rolling Stones
8. Jayne- Stereophonics
9. Crumb Begging- Babyshambles
10. You've Got To Hide Your Love Away- The Subways

Bonus-
11. Not Falling Apart- Maroon 5
12. Gold Digger- Kanye West

See,

it's just "the river" to we locals.

There is something about the Mississippi's very nature, its wilfulness, and its sheer size - 2,320 miles long, from Minnesota to the Gulf of Mexico, and at its widest point 4,500ft across - that demands veneration. And indeed, the Mississippi is a river that has been sung about often - by Janis Joplin, the Hold Steady, Hank Snow, Mavis Staples, Jimmie Rodgers and many others. It's been the "Ol' Man" that "jus' keeps rollin' along" for Paul Robeson, and it has shined "like the national guitar" for Paul Simon.

<33333

In the new Julia Quinn book, The Lost Duke of Wyndham, one of the characters uses the word "truthiness."

Not historically accurate, yet MADE OF AWESOME.

Curves, Traigh Iar, North Uist, Outer Hebrides, Scotland

Curves, Traigh Iar, North Uist, Outer Hebrides, Scotland, originally uploaded by McF_photo.

Oh my

Oasis and Stereophonics, with an audience that includes Ms. Moss and Ms. Frost. Oh my.

Why, yes

I've already ordered this, why do you ask?

Oh, Natalie

Darlin', you look like you were attacked by a dust ruffle. From 1989.

Reasons I love the Brit tabloids, #40

Bits like this-

Jobless grandad aims to marry his runaway schoolgirl lover aged 16

Signs that you might

want to work on your being-a-welcome-guest technique....

when you leave your host's home, the immediate reaction of said hosts is to-

1. bitch about you for at least 20 minutes
2. start drinking heavily
3. bitch whilst drinking heavily

Birthday wishes to

Mistah Paul Weller, who turns 50 today...

Beach Nerja, Costa del Sol, Spain

Beach Nerja, Costa del Sol, Spain, originally uploaded by elsa11.

Happy birthday, G!

Today is the birthday of my girl, Casey. Together we have-

1. Drank more than we really should have while watching men's swimming at the Olympics on the teevee
2. Defended our girl, Wendy's, honor with a baseball bat and a shower curtain rod AKA "The Enforcer"
3. Made our guy friends turn off porn at a party by doing color commentary in Clampett voices. "GOLLLEEE! WHERE'S HE GONNA PUT THAT THERE THANG?"
4. Gotten yelled at for excessive use of profanity while watching the Iowa State/Iowa basketball game
5. Watched 'Can't Hardly Wait,' 'Office Space,' 'Dazed and Confused,' and 'Bridget Jones's Diary', oh, A THOUSAND TIMES
6. Discussed at length what we would do if we had a trillion dollars

We've cried, laughed until incontinence was imminent, groaned about bastard fuckwittage and other things that dear friends do.

So, darling, happy birthday! MWAAAH!

A new record

When asked to help clean up after dinner tonight, it only took my sister-in-law 3 minutes to develop a raging headache.

It typically takes 5.

She miraculously recovered from said "headache" upon reaching the couch.

Bamburgh Beach, Northumberland

Bamburgh Beach, Northumberland, originally uploaded by Corica.

Random ten

1. Make You Feel My Love- Adele
2. Lust For Life- Iggy Pop
3. Walk Like An Egyptian- The Feeling
4. Small Black Flowers That Grow In the Sky- Manic Street Preachers
5. What Katie Did- The Libertines
6. You're So Vain- Carly Simon
7. Revolution- Jim Sturgess
8. Let's Go Crazy- Prince
9. The Man Who Would Be King- The Libertines
10. Are U That Somebody?- The Gossip

Bonus-
11. New York, New York- The Fratellis
12. Don't Look Back In Anger- Maroon 5

So cool

Ah, the Stones in 1969. In California. Surely nothing horrid could happen...

(and sadly, I initially thought, "why is Richey Edwards in a picture with a young Charlie Watts?")

Great shot

Oh God, I was actually rooting for United today. What's next? The Yankees? The Patriots?

I'm so ashamed.

And I swear, I've not spent the past hour ogling Cristiano Ronaldo's thighs admiring the team's athletic prowess.

On the current playlist

at Iowa's Coolest Flower Shop

Goldfrapp

The Last Shadow Puppets

Adele

Maroon 5

Duffy

Hmmm

These Louboutins are sex on heels.





















These Marcs look like my grandma's shoes, circa 1988. They say "vintage glamour," I say "Midwestern grandmother."

Duffy- 'Warwick Avenue'

Okay...

1. Love Dustin Hoffman

2. Love O-Ren Ishii, er, Lucy Liu

3. Love that Jack's tummy is bigger than Angelina's.

This is actually

a cute picture of both of them... but remember, y'all. Crack is whack.

Awww

One of my fav celeb couples... congrats, y'all.

Ellen DeGeneres and longtime girlfriend Portia de Rossi are jumping at the chance to get married.DeGeneres announced their engagement during a Thursday taping of "The Ellen DeGeneres Show," telling the studio audience the news that the California Supreme Court had struck down state laws against gay marriage."So I would like to say now, for the first time, I am announcing: I am getting married," she said during the show, airing Friday.

Long & winding road

, originally uploaded by andrewlee1967.

Ah, Russ...

Damn you for being so charming. You're my favorite manslut.

Gwent Fields

Gwent Fields, originally uploaded by wentloog.

'Dirty Old Town'- Babyshambles and Shane MacGowan

Random ten

1. Slipping Away- The Rolling Stones
2. Words- Doves
3. Suburban Knights- Hard-Fi
4. Know You Now- Amy Winehouse
5. Rockin' Chair- Oasis
6. Moving Pictures- The Cribs
7. Witchcraft- Frank Sinatra
8. Chelsea Dagger- The Fratellis
9. The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down- The Band
10. Reach Out (I'll Be There)- Four Tops

Bonus-
11. Melt My Heart To Stone- Adele
12. Shadrach- The Beastie Boys

Gorgeous

Ahhh, family

There is a small, but vocal contingent of wingnuts in my family, which unfortunately includes both my brothers. They're oppressed, you know. It's impossible to understand how hard it is out there for straight, white, college-educated men.

Another winger is one of my uncles, a doctor, who is perpetually kept down by The Man. Or so one would think, the way he carries on. He made the mistake of sending an email forward to one of my cousins (with sense), casting doubt on Obama's fitness for the presidency.

My cousin, for lack of a better expression, bitch slapped him via email.

I like how that video implies that Obama is a Muslim, then points out that he is a member of some karay-zee black Christian church. And that was all in the first minute. One thing they definitely got right is that he is brown. Plus he doesn't wear a flag pin!?! What's next? No magnetic ribbon on the bumper of his car. What a fag. Not the patriotic-getting-blown-by some strange dude-in-the-mens-room-of-an-airport kind of fag either. I mean the doesn't-bomb-a-country-on-entirely-false-pretenses kind of sissy.

I know that these e-mails are only bait and I swallowed the whole thing. But as the fisherman that I know you are, I expected a better technique. This video was a lot like dynamiting a pond. It is the sort of thing that dumb rednecks do (believe).

Yours in Christ (Not the black, Muslim Christ. The other one.)

Dude. That was COLD. I wonder how my uncle is faring with his new asshole.

PETEY!

Sequins and the Civil Rights movement

The Motown empire had its own charm school, and supplied the girls with an etiquette coach called Maxine Powell. What was the best lesson she taught them? "How to get in and out of a limousine." She giggles at the memory. "Ms Powell was a little bit broad in the back, and she'd demonstrate how not to get into a limo, and we'd just die laughing because she was so hilarious. We had to learn how to kinda slide in, in case the photographers got you. Her other thing was, How to Sit and be Interviewed on a Stool – whatever happens, always keep your knees together."

Duffy- 'Borderline'

J.B. & the Sugas

Glam

Blake Lively in Chanel haute couture

Santogold- L.E.S. Artistes

I swear,

they go through more drummers than friggin' Spinal Tap. Though to the best of my knowledge, none have ever spontaneously combusted. Well, maybe Tony McCarroll. Never mind, he was in the 'Definitely Maybe' documentary.

Oasis drummer Zak Starkey is unlikely to perform with the band again after falling out with singer/guitarist Noel Gallagher. According to The Sun today (May 12), Starkey is highly unlikely to play with the band on any forthcoming live dates, and his involvement in their forthcoming new album, recently completed, will be his last with Oasis.

You mean Noel's being a crotchety geezer? No! It can't be!

A sign of the impending apocalypse

Dave Mustaine has a coffee club. No, really...

For just $19.99 (£10) a month subscribers to Dave Mustaine's Monthly Coffee Crew, receive specialty brews personally selected by Megadeth's frontman. He needs good coffee, he explains, because "I like pushing life to the red-line, like a[n] SR-71 Blackbird [jet plane]."

Wow

I wanna go.

I drove west into Leitrim in the dead of winter. Whereas the middle of Ireland is surprisingly flat, as soon as I nosed across the county line, the landscape began to ruffle and fold and climb, this way and that, and I found myself ploughing through mists, rhythmically popping up and down through them, making a trail like the coils of the Loch Ness monster breaking surface.

Mysterious stretches of water would appear each side of me, one every couple of miles, flat sheets with gloss, frothing silver mist, and forests sometimes rose tall and dark beside them. It was a landscape from a dream, unmanicured, informal, raffish and intimate in its beauty, changing textures all the time. If Kew Gardens were the grand salon of a mansion, this would be its teenager's bedroom.

I want this house

I know it needs revamping, but OMG

But this one... how gorgeous is the moss growing on the roof?

Now this sounds interesting...

BBC2 has commissioned a major drama about the Troubles in Northern Ireland that will feature James Nesbitt, with Liam Neeson also being lined up for a starring role. The one-off piece, to be called Five Minutes of Heaven, will be set in Belfast and tell a dramatised version of the real life story of 17-year-old Alistair Little, a member of the Protestant Ulster Volunteer Force.

Little was convicted in 1975 and spent 12 years in prison for the murder of 19-year-old Catholic Jim Griffin in Lurgan.The murder was witnessed by the victim's 11-year-old brother, Joe, and the film will look at the impact of his sibling's death on him and his family.

2008-05-07 Broomfield Place, St John's Church, Judas Tree

2008-05-07 Broomfield Place, St John's Church, Judas Tree, originally uploaded by that_james.

Adorable

We Are Scientists are so damn cute.

When they played an acoustic show as part of Jo Whiley's Little Noise Sessions at the Union Chapel last year, the band almost upstaged special guests Bono and the Edge, interrupting one of their own infectious hits with a hilarious skit about meeting the U2 frontman.

Backstage, apparently, Bono was a little put out by the amount of female attention lavished on the young New Yorkers. "Bono was pretty pissed off," says singer/guitarist Keith Murray. "He was shrieking. He has a surprisingly high-pitched voice; it almost sounds like it's been sped up or something."

Gag

The economy is in the tank, poverty is rising, and soldiers and innocent civilians are dying in an illegal war. And still, we get this shite from the media.

Jenna Bush's wedding is low-key affair at ranch

Away from the glare of television cameras that have beamed other first amily weddings into American living rooms, Jenna's outdoor wedding at the ranch reflects her family's penchant for privacy and her preference for the casual over grandiose.

Yeah, "low-key" is exactly the fucking phrase that comes to mind with this family.

A very special random ten

I somehow fucked up iTunes, and am now in a "trying to reinstall but failing miserably most likely to do with extreme exhaustion AKA six funerals, two weddings and Mother's Day in past two weeks" hell.

So, off the top of my sleepy head, in no particular order, my fav tunes of the week.

1. Baddies Boogie- Babyshambles
2. Vertigo- The Libertines
3. Dakota- Stereophonics
4. To Make You Feel My Love- Adele
5. Cutt Off- Kasabian
6. The first song off 'Everything Must Go' (something about Elvis and the Blackpool promenade. Also, Lancashire)- Manic Street Preachers
7. Mersey Paradise- The Stone Roses
8. Stronger- Kanye West
9. Creep- Prince
10. Meeting Paris Hilton- CSS

Bonus-
11. The Miranda Lambert song where she's singing about small towns. Also fame. And football of the American variety. Hmmm, could it be 'Famous In A Small Town.' God, I need sleep.
12. Living Is A Problem Because Everything Dies- Biffy Clyro (just because of the "I've got a gun in the back of my car" line)

It's not good when my neurotic ass can't remember song titles. Not good at all.

Kew flowers

Kew flowers, originally uploaded by cortomaltese.

I'm so happy

On IFC right now- 'Tristam Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story'


Immediately following- '24 Hour Party People'

Lee and Beth

Nice one, La Ditto...

Alexander McQueen loves to non-conform, and his eccentric taste in everything extends to his favorite musicians. While his first pick Amy Winehouse wasn’t available to perform at the May 13 opening of his Los Angeles flagship, the elusive designer has tapped a singer worthy of her unique–and, at times, outlandish–ways: Beth Ditto.

via

'Up The Bracket'- The Libertines

A florist's friend

Along with a really excellent pair of clippers and a sharp design knife, I would say that Aquaphor is right up there with florist essentials. Our hands are in water a lot, you see, and get really dried out and ashy.

I have really sensitive skin, and tend to break out in hives when I apply hand cream after conditioning flowers. Aquaphor doesn't make me hit the Benadryl, which is a very good thing.

Hee hee hee

The musician Pete Doherty left Wormwood Scrubs prison this morning after serving 29 days of a 14-week sentence for breaching his probation. Prison life was "a lot of gangsters and Radio 4", he told waiting reporters, borrowing a phone from one so he could ask a friend to pick him up. Emerging from the west London prison's gate at 7.10am, smoking a cigarette, the former Libertines frontman said: "Thank you Mrs Thatcher for putting me in the company of the most dangerous criminals in the country."

And this next bit didn't surprise me at all, but I still laughed until I cried.

He said he was looking forward to a rum and Coke and spending time with his cats.

Oh Peter, you're such a cat lady.

Now, as for your first activities outside, other than the 'Shambles gig next week (and staying on the straighter and narrower), why don't you and Drew go to a hair stylist?

They can try to get a brush through your hair, and convince your bassist that while the feather cut suits Wellah! just wonderfully, that he's much too fine, er, YOUNG for it.

Nice suit, hon.

Interesting...

Most of the time, "deluxe reissues" are a rip, but I'm going to need this one-

For years, because of Mavers' insistence that the "official" album was not the one he had been imagining, fans have wondered how else the La's might have sounded. They scoured the Lost La's album of demos for clues a few years back; they admired the rough and ready versions of the songs on last year's BBC Sessions CD. Now they've got a chance to hear a complete run-through of one of the discarded versions, produced by Mike Hedges and released as part of a new "deluxe" reissue

*snicker*

Kate Moss is desperate to sing on stage with her new boyfriend Jamie Hince's band The Kills at Glastonbury next month. But the 34-year-old
model's appearance could be as embarrassing as when she once was booed off by Babyshambles fans in Florence after she sang with the band's frontman, her ex, Pete Doherty.

Thems a whole lotta flowers

The cooler at Iowa's Coolest Flower Shop as of last Thursday (two weddings yesterday)

Blue house in Moustiers

Blue house in Moustiers, originally uploaded by marius.askildsen.

Isobel and Mark

"It's a funny setup," she admits. "I'm not going to lie, it's very unusual. You could raise your eyebrows. I prefer to say it's a unique thing."

Such a cutie

Ms. Nash at Coachella

This is HILARIOUS

A blow-by-blow* recap of the video for 'November Rain.'

It's very sad. The same cathedral that witnessed happy nuptials now resonates with weeping rock icons. Including, weirdly, John Denver. Oh, no, that's Axl Rose. He's very sad.

*poor choice of words

Market in Lorgues

Market in Lorgues, originally uploaded by marius.askildsen.

Random ten

1. Stuntman- Kasabian
2. Listen Up!- Gossip
3. I've Just Seen A Face- The View
4. All Apologies- Nirvana
5. Parachute Woman- The Rolling Stones
6. Don't Let Me Down- Stereophonics
7. South Side- Moby & Gwen Stefani
8. Celebrity Skin- Hole
9. Can't Get Enough Of Your Love, Babe- Barry White
10. Red Blooded Woman- Kylie Minogue

Bonus-
11. L.E.S. Artistes- Santogold
12. Round & Round- New Order

Random bits

-This weekend at the shop, we have 2 weddings, including the daughter of our lead designer. I'm in charge of the other one, which features a young and picky bride, and am currently figuring out how I'm going to make it from setting up the latter, to attending the former. Of course, they're in different towns.*

-Today, I was examining my nails, and lamenting their lack of length/polish, and trying to schedule a time to rectify this. After getting a big eye roll from Patti, we decided that they would be fantastic if they weren't dirty, let alone manicured.

-When ordering Chinese takeout from a local grocery store today, I assumed my best professional phone manner, and said one of the dumbest things ever.

"I'd like to speak to someone in Chinese."

Not "I need to order Chinese takeout." Instead, telling the poor, probably amused operator that I'd like to speak a language that I don't even know how to say "hello" in.

On the plus side, I made the mother of the bride laugh her skinny arse off.

*We're talking 15 miles distance here, but still... I'm going to be careening around the countryside, dodging tractors and such, attempting to apply makeup while keeping the delivery van out of ditches and ravines...

Montserrat, Catalonia, Spain

Montserrat, Catalonia, Spain, originally uploaded by curreyuk.

Mojo awards

Best Live Act
Arctic Monkeys
Rufus Wainwright
Seasick Steve
Led Zeppelin
Neil Young

Best Album
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds-Dig!!! Lazarus Dig!!!
Arctic Monkeys- Favourite Worst Nightmare
Radiohead- In Rainbows
Duffy- Rockferry
Robert Plant and Alison
Krauss- Raising Sand

Song of the Year
LCD Soundsystem-All My Friends
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds- Dig!!! Lazarus Dig!!!
The Last Shadow Puppets- The Age of the Understatement
Richard Hawley- Tonight the Streets Are Ours
Duffy- Mercy

Breakthrough Act
Duffy
Foals
Pete Molinari
The Last Shadow Puppets
Bon Iver

Mojo Maverick
Mark E. Smith, of the Fall

ILU Russell

"Don't say that out loud." Oh, Russ... you're such a slag. Don't ever change.

An interesting combination

Petula Clark and PAUL RYDER?????? Oh my...

NOW here's an unlikely duet. Former Happy Mondays bassist Paul Ryder, brother of Shaun and now frontman of his own band Big Arm, is set to team up with Downtown singing legend Petula Clark.

Believe it or not, Paul's the looker in the Ryder clan.

Chalk Farm Road

Chalk Farm Road, originally uploaded by laurentphotography.

dolwyddelan barn

dolwyddelan barn, originally uploaded by meirion matthias.

I'm a swoon-y wreck

Most random setlist ever. They did 'Son Of A Gun.' My FAVORITE La's song. AAAAAA.

Helsinki played:

’Ampersand’
‘Genocide Matinee’
‘This Love’
‘Same Jeans’
‘White Riot’
‘Son Of A Gun’
‘Paris At Night’
‘I Wish’
‘Dancing In The Dark’

Paris in the springtime

Paris in the springtime, originally uploaded by torontofotobug.

Hee hee

Mindy is so awesome. This is EXACTLY how I feel about sour candy gummies...

When the concept of Sour met Sweet, it was like when Paul McCartney met John Lennon. Then when Sour and Sweet met Chewy, it was like they ran into Mick Jagger at the post office and had one long jam session. When Sour and Sweet and Chewy met Cherry, it was like the cops came to break up the jam session and the sheriff was Michael Jackson in 1981 and he like moonwalked all over the place.

"Lacroix sweetie, Lacroix"

The clutch from Christian Lacroix-






























The inspiration by Klimt-

The Kids Are Alright

Today was the day that the kids attending local proms picked up their flowers from the shop. It was a little after 2 (when we normally close), and we heard someone pull up outside.

A local boy, whose father owns a junkyard, had pulled into the parking lot in a semi. A sparkling clean semi. I mean, that fucker had been waxed, so you just know that's what the kid was driving tonight. He popped in to pick up his flowers, pleased as punch. We tried not to giggle or hug him. It was that cute.

This is why we love prom. I may currently be so exhausted that I just struggled with the spelling of "pleased" for a few moments, but the kids are generally awesome.

Sometimes my Spidey senses are right on

Today, in the midst of Prom hell (55 sets of corsages and boutonnieres down, 7 to go), we had a delivery to go to a tiny town to the west of Iowa's Coolest Flower Shop. Upon opening the garage door, I noticed a whole bunch of ominous clouds in the direction I would be driving in. After seeing huge bolts of lightening streak across the sky, I closed the garage door, went inside and announced that I would do the delivery later.

I'm so smart. The town where a tornado touched down in? About 5 miles from where I'd be delivering to...

Vintage Postcard from Paris

Vintage Postcard from Paris, originally uploaded by Kessiye.

Random ten

1. Gimme Some Love- Graham Coxon
2. Afraid Not Scared- Ryan Adams
3. Darker- Doves
4. Tomorrow Never Knows- Noel Gallagher
5. The 32nd Of December- Babyshambles
6. Ready For The Floor- Hot Chip
7. Lit Up- Buckcherry
8. Dakota- Stereophonics
9. Cabaret- Liza Minelli
10. Last Nite- Adele

Bonus-
11. Denial- Sugababes
12. Caravan- Van Morrison

It's never a good sign

when my mom begins a conversation with, "Don't freak out." As earlier mentioned, we have a jam-packed schedule for the next 6 weeks at the shop. And now, I have a sense of impending doom about next weekend (two weddings). Why? Also next Saturday, the semi-annual town-wide garage sale.

Oh God, when Mom told me, I screamed in horror. Nearly cried. You have no idea how bad it is. Scads of foul-smelling people descend upon our little village, driving minivans at 2 MPH with the doors open, as to better leap out for the awesome fucking deals on every block. AND one of the weddings is in town, so the setup will be beset with with logistical difficulties.

Also, they come into the shop, walk around, ask stupid questions, use the bathroom, plug the toilet and LEAVE WITHOUT BUYING ANYTHING. Thank God I'm setting up the out-of-town wedding...

Hmm... am sensing a potential fanbase clash

Paul Weller and Girls Aloud are to headline shows on the Isle Of Wight this summer.The former leader of The Jam will play Osborne House on July 26, with Girls Aloud following the next day (27).

Chic

Carla Bruni-Sarkozy's coat. WANT. Also her flats and trousers. Okay, the whole damn outfit.

Awwww

How cute are Miles and Alex?

I'm feeling slightly overwhelmed

The schedule at Iowa's Coolest Flower Shop for the next few weeks.

April 20-26- Prom. 60+ corsages and boutonnieres. 70+ tuxedo rentals. Secretaries Day tomorrow.

April 27-May 3- Two weddings, including tux rentals for both. One of the weddings is the daughter of one of our designers.

May 4-May 10- A little holiday you may have heard of. Mother's Day. Our biggest week of the year.

May 11-May 17- Graduation at the local high school. Craziness will ensue.

May 18-24- Wedding

May 24-31- Wedding. Memorial Day.

June 1-7- Wedding.

So, yeah. I'm going to have even less of a life than usual for the next few months. AND it's a virtual certainty, whenever we are incredibly busy, the f-u-n-e-r-a-l work starts to roll in...

And so it begins.

Oasis- 'Step Out'

One of my fav Noel/Stevie Wonder tunes. In fact, my ONLY favorite Noel/Stevie song...

I want to

look like Eva Green when I grow up.

Now THAT'S a diverse lineup

BBC Radio1's Big Weekend

Saturday 10 May - Main Stage
Madonna
Usher
The Fratellis
Robyn
Duffy
Scouting For Girls
The Feeling
The Hoosiers

Sunday 11 May - Main Stage
The Kooks
Nelly
Adele
Newton Faulkner
Goldfrapp
The Enemy
Pigeon Detectives
One Republic

Devon Jonquils

Devon Jonquils, originally uploaded by RobRoyAus.